{"id":33359,"date":"2026-08-08T22:38:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33359"},"modified":"2026-08-08T22:38:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:38:45","slug":"madonna-pays-tribute-to-william-orbit-after-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33359","title":{"rendered":"Madonna Pays Tribute to William Orbit After His Death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/madonna\/\">Madonna<\/a> is remembering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/william-orbit\/\">William Orbit<\/a> following his death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOn Saturday (Aug. 8), the Queen of Pop took to social media to remember her <em>Ray of Light<\/em> producer following his death at age 69.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI had an epiphany when I met you and started working with you,\u201d Madonna wrote on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Dbxz4J3iJOz\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>. \u201cI realized that music did not have to fit into categories or genres. So we created our own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe superstar singer\u2019s post included a clip of her acceptance speech at the 1999 Grammy Awards, where Orbit stood by her side as they accepted the award for best pop vocal album. <em>Ray of Light<\/em> peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tShe continued, \u201cYou pressed a magic button inside of me and I fell into a galaxy of unrealized dreams. Your music gave me a magic carpet to fly on and I visited many places. Sad and Joyful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOrbit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/music\/music-news\/william-orbit-death-producer-madonna-u2-dead-1236311491\/\">died at his home<\/a> on July 23, but his death was announced Friday (Aug. 7). A cause of death was not given.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe producer first remixed Madonna songs including \u201cJustify My Love\u201d and \u201cErotica\u201d before the pair collaborated on her 1998 album, <em>Ray of Light<\/em>. His signature sound, incorporating elements of techno, trip-hop and downtempo, can be heard throughout the album.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI sang in ways I\u2019d never sung before,\u201d Madonna wrote in her tribute. \u201cI used words without caring if they made sense or not. In many ways you were my Ray of Light \u2014 as was my daughter Lola who was born around this time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tShe added, \u201cI was starting a new chapter, I was choosing another road to walk down \u2014 and you were right by my side with your crooked teeth and your genius, way of hearing music. The studio was often church like and I would sit in silence, waiting for your ideas to explode out of your keyboard or your guitar and then I would run with them\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe pair frequently worked together over the following decade, with Orbit receiving production credits on \u201cBeautiful Stranger,\u201d \u201cAmerican Pie\u201d and songs on Madonna\u2019s 2000 album <em>Music<\/em> and 2012\u2019s <em>MDNA<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cI miss those days. Only you could inspire me to write a song like Drowned World or Swim. You were so otherworldly. So singular,\u201d Madonna wrote. \u201cThe years passed and I moved on to make music with other people, but I have never forgotten you or the magical time we spent together. Goodbye Billy Bubbles. I was so lucky to have known you and fallen down the rabbit hole with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSee Madonna\u2019s full tribute to Orbit on Instagram below.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram\"\/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubpass.co\/billboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/2HpFicp.png\" alt=\"Billboard VIP Pass\" style=\"max-width: 100%;height: auto\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madonna is remembering William Orbit following his death. On Saturday (Aug. 8), the Queen of Pop took to social media to remember her Ray of Light producer following his death at age 69. \u201cI had an epiphany when I met you and started working with you,\u201d Madonna wrote on Instagram. \u201cI realized that music did&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/madonna-press-2026-credit-Rafael-Pavarotti-billboard-1800.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}